Graeme Edge

Graeme Charles Edge was born on March 30, 1941 in Rochester, Staffordshire, and at the age of six months his family returned to Birmingham. His mother was a pianist for the silent movies and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all music-hall singers.

Graeme Edge

Graeme trained as a draughtsman but soon went into music full time. He never started out to be a drummer, he was, in fact the Manager of a group called the Blue Rhythm Band – in those days a Manager of a group was somebody who could move the equipment about and had a house big enough for the band to practice in. Graeme always watched the drummer in the group and fooled around on the drums, but never really drummed professionally until that drummer quit and he had to fill in. He played with the group for three weeks until a replacement was found and then bought his own kit and went to work in earnest.

The first band that Graeme formed was the Silhouettes and The Blue Rhythm Band. He then helped to form Gerry Levene and the Avengers, who recorded one single for Decca, “Dr. Feelgood/It’s Driving Me Wild,” and appeared on TV in “Thank Your Lucky Stars.” The group included Graeme, Spike Hopkins, Johnny Marshall, Gerry Levene plus one other band member.

Roy Wood (later to join The Move and Wizzard) played with the band for a short time. When this group collapsed in April 1964 Graeme formed The R & B Preachers, which included Denny Laine and Clint Warwick, and when that group disbanded the three of them linked up with Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder to form The M & B 5, which later, of course, changed its name to The Moody Blues.

During the Moodies’ break in recording and touring, Graeme released his first solo single recording in 1974 – “We Like To Do It/Shotgun” – and in 1975 released his first solo album “Kick Off Your Muddy Boots,” together with the single “The Tunnel/Bareback Rider.” He lived on the Greek island of Corfu in his 70ft yacht, Delia, and during his ocean-going voyage around the world, he became particularly enamoured with the salsa, calypso, samba and reggae beats when he visited the Caribbean. The voyage helped to inspire his second solo album “Paradise Ballroom,” released in 1977 together with a single “Everybody Needs Somebody/Be My Eyes.”

In the mid-80’s, for a short period, he did occassional work with a band called Loud, Confident and Rong, a part-time jazz combo made up of several respected musicians who played in various London clubs, including The Marquee. However, he has continued as the drummer for The Moody Blues since they got back together in 1978 to record the album Octave.

Graeme drums with a precision beat while spicing the Moodies’ sound with a wide range of percussion instruments. When away from the spotlight he lists his hobbies as sailing, golf, war films and sci-fi – Graeme is a confirmed Trekkie.